You owe obedience to your superior not on account of his prudence or goodness or any other gifts of God he may possess, but solely because he stands in God's place in regard to you. - Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Saint Francis Xavier

Also known as

• Apostle to the Far East
• Francisco de Jaso y Azpilicueta
• Franciscus de Xabier

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Born to the nobility of the Basque reqion. Studied and taught philosophy at the University of Paris, and planned a career as a professor. Friend of Saint Ignatius of Loyola who convinced him to use his talents to spread the Gospel. One of the founding Jesuits, and the first Jesuit missionary. Priest.

In Goa, India, while waiting to take ship, he preached in the street, worked with the sick, and taught children their catechism. He would walk through the streets ringing a bell to call the children to their studies. Said to have converted the entire city.

He scolded his patron, King John of Portugal, over the slave trade: "You have no right to spread the Catholic faith while you take away all the country's riches. It upsets me to know that at the hour of your death you may be ordered out of paradise."

Tremendously successful missionary for ten years in India, the East Indies, and Japan, baptizing more than 40,000 converts. His epic finds him dining with head hunters, washing the sores of lepers in Venice, teaching catechism to Indian children, baptizing 10,000 in a single month. He tolerated the most appalling conditions on long sea voyages, enduring extremes of heat and cold. Wherever he went he would seek out and help the poor and forgotten. He traveled thousands of miles, most on his bare feet, and he saw the greater part of the Far East. Had the gift of tongues. Miracle worker. Raised people from the dead. Calmed storms. Prophet. Healer.

Born

7 April 1506 at Javier, Spanish Navarre as Francisco de Jaso y Azpilicueta

Died

2 December 1552 at Sancian, China of a fever contracted on a mission journey

Blessed Ladislao Bukowinski

Also known as

• Vladislav Bukovinskij
• Wladyslaw Bukowinski

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One of three children born to Jozef Tsypriyan Bukowinski and Vladislav Jadwiga Schipo del Campo, he was baptized at the age of four days. Naturalized Polish citizen. Studied law and theology at Jagiellonian University. Ordained a priest in the diocese of Krakow, Poland on 28 June 1931.

Vicar and catechist in Rabka from 1931 to 1935. Assistant pastor and catechist in Sucha-Beskidzka from 1935 to 1936. Assigned to Luck, Volhynia in 1936 where he worked with Polish immigrants and prisoners, both criminal and political; taught sociology and catechism at the major seminary; director of the Higher Institute of Religious Sciences; deputy editor of The Catholic Life. General Secretary of Catholic Action in the diocese in 1938. Appointed parish priest at the cathedral of Luck at the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. He was known as an intelligent, educated and pious man who remained calm and spiritual even in the face of the war.

Arrested by the NKVD (Communist secret police) on 22 August 1940, and sentenced to eight years of hard labour for the crime of being a priest in a Communist-controlled area, and for his out-spoken defense of religious freedom. He was sentenced to die when the NKVD started killing prisoners. He was released when the German army over-ran the area. He resumed his pastoral work which now included hiding Jewish children with Catholic families. He was arrested again by the NKVD on the night of 3 January 1945, languished in prison for over a year, then was sentenced to more hard labour in the mines of modern Karaganda, Kazakhstan. He spent his time in prison ministering to other prisoners.

He was released from the gulag in 1955 and ordered to remain in exile in Kazakhstan. He became a Soviet citizen in June 1955. Arrested in 1957 and sentenced to three more years in a labour camp for the crime of priesthood. Released in December 1961, he immediately resumed his work as parish priest and missionary in a Muslim land.

Born

22 December 1904 in Berdychiv, Zhytomyr, Ukraine

Died

• 3 December 1974 in Karaganda, Kazakhstan of natural causes
• relics enshrined in the cathedral of Karaganda in 2008

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Blessed Johann Nepomuk von Tschiderer

Also known as

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Son of Joseph Joachim and Caterina de Giovanelli. Received his secondary education from the Franciscans. Moved with his family to Innsbruck, Austria in 1792 where he studied philosophy and theology at the university. Ordained on 27 July 1800.

Though he was not a Benedictine, Johann spent a life exemplifying their motto of "Prayer and Work." He was priest to several Tirolean mountain parishes, a professor at the theological seminary of Trent, Italy and school dean in Sarentino and Merano. Recalled in 1827 to Trent as a member of the Chapter of Saint Vigilius' Cathedral. Pro-Vicar General of the diocese. Auxiliary Bishop of Bressanone for Vorarlberg in 1832. Bishop in Innsbruck, Austria on 20 May 1832.

Johann never let his administrative duties overshadow his pastoral ones, and he spent much of his time preaching, writing, teaching as a catechist, reviving home missions, helping the poor and sick, conducting Mass, hearing confessions, and administering the sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Orders, sometimes to candidates from other dioceses whose bishops were not available. He supervised building and restoration of over 60 churches, maintained good relations with priests, providing for their ongoing formation, promoted Christian education of boys and girls by those in religious life, supported seminarians, insured seminary teachings were strictly orthodox, helped found an institute for the hearing and speech impaired, and managed to pray the Rosary each day.

He worked with, and provided funding for the care of victims of the cholera epidemics of 1836 and 1855, and in the war of 1859. He intervened to prevent the 20 March 1848 Uprising from becoming a blood-bath. He worked to overcome the obstacles between Church and State that were created by contemporary legislation. Late in life he planned a pilgrimage to Rome for the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, but illness and then death prevented it.

Born

15 April 1777 at Bolzano, diocese of Trent, Italy

Died

3 December 1860 at Trent, Italy of natural causes

Beatified

• 29 April 1995 by Pope John Paul II
• beatification miracles include the healing of blindness of a 4-year-old in 1867, and the 1871 cure of a young priest who was on his death-bed with tuberculosis

Saint Emma of Bremen

Also known as

• Emma of Lesum
• Emma of Stiepel
• Hemma, Imma

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Born to the Saxon nobility; the sister of Bishop Meinwerk of Paderborn, Germany. Lay woman, married to Luidger, the son of a Saxon duke. In 1008 she built a church on land given to her by the pope. Mother of one, who would become Bishop Imad of Paderborn. Widowed in 1011. She devoted herself and her fortune to charity to the poor of Bremen, Germany, support of the cathedral, and the construction of churches.

Born

c.977

Died

• 3 December 1038 of natural causes
• buried in the cathedral in Bremen, Germany church yard
• when her grave was opened in the 16th century, the body had turned to dust except for the right hand - which was the hand she used to dispense charity
• hand enshrined at the abbey of Saint Ludger in Werden, Germany

Canonized

• never formally canonized
• a popular devotion developed immediately upon her death

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Saint Lucius

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Second century king or chieftain in the British Isles. Wrote to Pope Saint Eleuterus c.180 to ask for missionaries. Bede says that evangelists were sent, and had great success in the south and west of Britain and Wales. Helped found the dioceses of London, England, and Llandaff, Wales. Lucius later became a missionary himself, taking the message to the Grissons in what is modern Switzerland.

Many modern scholars regard Lucius as inadvertent pious fiction. We know that King Lucius of Edessa wrote to Pope Eleuterus to ask for missionaries to the Britium region near Mesopotamia. Combined with the lack of popular devotion to Lucius in Britain, and no mention in writings before the 6th century leads to the belief that some old hand-written documents were misread, and were seen as an explanation for some early missionary efforts in England and Wales.

Representation

Saint Birinus of Dorchester

Also known as

• Birinus of Genoa
• Apostle of Wessex
• Berin, Birin, Birch

Profile

Ordained in Rome, Italy. Bishop in Genoa, Italy. Sent by Pope Honorius I as a missionary to Britain in 634. Preached with the pagan West Saxons where he had great success, converting King Cynegils and many of his subjects. Bishop of Dorchester, England. Founded many churches in the region, and known for a great devotion to the Eucharist.

Died

Saint Cassian of Tangiers

Profile

Court stenographer at the trial of Saint Marcellus the Centurion at Tangiers. When Marcellus was condemned to death, Cassian announced his own faith, and denounced the penalty. He was immediately arrested and killed. Martyr. Mentioned in a hymn by Saint Prudentius.

Died

298 in Tangiers (in modern Morocco)

Patronage

Saint Theodulus of Edessa

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Prefect in the court of Theodosius the Great in Constantinople. Married. When his wife died, Theodulus felt drawn to the life of a hermit, claiming that all the world's glories meant nothing to him. He sold his estate, gave his fortune to the poor, and lived as a hermit on top of a pillar near Edessa, Syria. Legend says he had the gift of inedia, living solely from Communion for 38 years.

Died

Saint Claudius the Martyr

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Husband of Saint Hilaria. Father of Saint Jason and Saint Maurus. Roman military tribune. Converted to Christianity after hearing the testimony of Saint Chrysanthus. Martyred in the persecution of Numerian along with his family and 70 soldier converts whose names have not come down to us.

Died

• drowned in 283 at Rome, Italy
• relics enshrined in the church of Santa Prassède in Rome in the early 9th century

Saint Hilaria the Martyr

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Wife of Saint Claudius. Mother of Saint Jason and Saint Maurus. Convert. Martyred in the persecutions of Numerian.

Died

• died in prison in 283 in Rome, Italy from general harsh conditions and poor treatment while waiting her sentence as a martyr
• relics enshrined in the church of Santa Prassède in Rome in the early 9th century

Died

Martyred in the Spanish Civil War

Thousands of people were murdered in the anti-Catholic persecutions of the Spanish Civil War from 1934 to 1939. I have pages on each of them, but in most cases I have only found very minimal information. They are available on the CatholicSaints.Info site through these links: